Karlo Samsa came from village Prelože in the Primorska region of Slovenia. He arrived in Australia in 1966 with his wife Hedvika, baby daughter Yolanda, his mother Karolina and younger brother Vinko at the invitation of his two older brothers who had come to Australia years earlier.
Clever and hard working, Karlo soon found work. Their second child Dusan was born in 1967. A little later, they built a house and next to the house a bocce court, where a great number of other men from Primorska started gathering on Sundays. His house became a social centre for Slovenians, until a friend mentioned the newly founded Club Triglav at St Johns Park in 1972.
After his first visit to the new Triglav Club, Karlo took with him his truck, his brother Vinko and a few other helpers. They brought sand there and built bocce courts at Triglav, an attraction that brought more and more people to play on Sundays.
Karlo became a member of the Club’s Committee from the start. He was also the president of the club from 1977 to 1984. He organised the building of the club and anything else that needed to be built. Without his leadership and expertise the Club Triglav might not exist today.
When they planned the club's proper building, they had to change the layout of the bocce courts. Karlo and Vinko personally built six courts, with proper foundations, concrete floors and then brick by brick. Later other volunteers joined them and built fences around the courts. The club was finished in 1982. A year later, they decided to put a roof over the bocce courts.The work was finished with a great opening in 1983, when bocce players from all around Australia took part in the opening competition. Soon after, when all the planning and building was finished, Karlo decided, that his work was done. For a while he worked as a manager of the newly built club and then he decided to let others do their turn, and to spend more time with his family.
They bought a caravan at the lake in the Snowy Mountains and even then Karlo spent half of his free time helping his friends build annexes and improving their holiday cabins.
Karlo Samsa je še vedno zvest član kluba Triglav Panthers, kakor se kliče sedaj, Še vedno je zaposlen, v prostem času pa pomaga vsem prijateljem pri gradnjah in izboljšavah njihovih hiš z strokovnimi nasveti in spretnimi rokami, zraven pa še balina, lovi ribe ali preživlja čas z družino in vnuki. Večkrat pa je tudi dobil nagrado v klubu za svoje doma napravljeno vino. Karlo je cenjen in spoštovan od vseh ki ga poznajo in si zasluži priznanje in pohvalo
80 - 84 Brisbane Road
St Johns Park NSW 2176
phone: (02) 9426 1000
fax: (02) 9823 2522 
